I had to get my contractor to move a bit of slurry for me from one tank to another a couple of days ago.
The slurry was just about at the bottom of the slats.
He gained me around 18in, but it will quickly fill up again.
Slurry season is open once again, but even with the umbilical system you couldn’t venture on to any of my land at the minute.
As the old saying goes, ‘you could stir it’.
A noticeable stretch is beginning to develop in the days, a grand stretch in the evenings as they say, so if it does decide to stop raining things can dry quite quickly.
Breeding routine
I still haven’t managed to get any calves out to grass by day due to the wet weather, something that I will hopefully be able to rectify in the coming weeks.
Breeding is moving along nicely, with only five cows available for service still to show a heat.
My maiden heifers on the other hand are very slow to show heat, with only 25% inseminated in the four weeks since the start of breeding.
I think I’ll wait another two weeks, which will mean two full cycles, and then handle anything that hasn’t shown a heat at that point.
I will then probably use a synchronisation programme that has worked well for me over the past couple of years.
Day one: insert a PRID or CIDR and give 2ml of receptal. Day eight: at 8am remove the PRID or CIDR and give 2ml of estrumate. Day 10: at 4pm AI and give 2ml of receptal, which should be 56 hours after removal of the PRID.Mineral management
I had a cow go down on the slats with milk fever-like symptoms.
I put a bottle of magnesium and a bottle of calcium into her and lifted her out on to a woodchip bed.
When lifted, she was able to stand, but just couldn’t manage to get up. Hopefully, she will make a full recovery.
Cows are getting post-calving minerals, but, stupidly, I ran out and they were without them for two days.
I’m assuming that this was the problem anyway. The leafy silage that they are on would also not help the problem.
Funny how making 75 DMD silage can solve some problems and save some costs, but can also cause problems along the way.
I’m just going to have to make sure I don’t run out of minerals again.
Read more
Farmer Writes: cow camera makes for unpopular viewing at Netflix time
Farmer Writes: 2020, what a year
I had to get my contractor to move a bit of slurry for me from one tank to another a couple of days ago.
The slurry was just about at the bottom of the slats.
He gained me around 18in, but it will quickly fill up again.
Slurry season is open once again, but even with the umbilical system you couldn’t venture on to any of my land at the minute.
As the old saying goes, ‘you could stir it’.
A noticeable stretch is beginning to develop in the days, a grand stretch in the evenings as they say, so if it does decide to stop raining things can dry quite quickly.
Breeding routine
I still haven’t managed to get any calves out to grass by day due to the wet weather, something that I will hopefully be able to rectify in the coming weeks.
Breeding is moving along nicely, with only five cows available for service still to show a heat.
My maiden heifers on the other hand are very slow to show heat, with only 25% inseminated in the four weeks since the start of breeding.
I think I’ll wait another two weeks, which will mean two full cycles, and then handle anything that hasn’t shown a heat at that point.
I will then probably use a synchronisation programme that has worked well for me over the past couple of years.
Day one: insert a PRID or CIDR and give 2ml of receptal. Day eight: at 8am remove the PRID or CIDR and give 2ml of estrumate. Day 10: at 4pm AI and give 2ml of receptal, which should be 56 hours after removal of the PRID.Mineral management
I had a cow go down on the slats with milk fever-like symptoms.
I put a bottle of magnesium and a bottle of calcium into her and lifted her out on to a woodchip bed.
When lifted, she was able to stand, but just couldn’t manage to get up. Hopefully, she will make a full recovery.
Cows are getting post-calving minerals, but, stupidly, I ran out and they were without them for two days.
I’m assuming that this was the problem anyway. The leafy silage that they are on would also not help the problem.
Funny how making 75 DMD silage can solve some problems and save some costs, but can also cause problems along the way.
I’m just going to have to make sure I don’t run out of minerals again.
Read more
Farmer Writes: cow camera makes for unpopular viewing at Netflix time
Farmer Writes: 2020, what a year
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